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Bello

Transatlantic reflections
Populist parallels between Europe and Latin America

Jul 18th 2015 | From the print edition

THE late Carlos Fuentes, a Mexican writer, compared the exercise of mutual influence
between Spain and its former colonies to a mirror: looking from the Americas to the
Mediterranean, and back. Those transatlantic reflections continueand reach far across
Mare Nostrumin ways that would have seemed surprising only a few years ago.
Seen from Latin America, the agonies of the euro zone arouse a sickening sense of dj vu.
The limits on withdrawals from Greek banks mimic the corralito (little fence) imposed by
Domingo Cavallo, Argentinas finance minister in 2001, in a doomed attempt to preserve his
countrys currency board, which pegged the peso at par to the dollar for a decade.
Argentina is Exhibit A for those who argue that Greece would be better off outside the euro. Denunciations of austerity and the IMF by
Alexis Tsipras, Greeces prime minister, and his far-left Syriza party attract the sympathy of Latin Americas leftist-populist leaders. Y et the
parallel is somewhat misleading: Argentina recovered strongly from 2003 onwards not just because it defaulted and devalued but because
world prices for its farm exports surged. And Greece has swallowed vast lumps of concessional credit provided by Europes taxpayers, not
usurious loans from the financial markets. Mr Tsiprass last-minute deal suggests he realises that Greece is not Argentina.
Less remarked is the political inspiration that Europes new far-left movements derive from Latin America. Mr Tsiprass recourse to a
referendum to shore up his domestic support echoes the tactics of Venezuelas late Hugo Chvez, who called six in 14 years in power. So
does the overblown claim that Greece is the victim of a coup, the agitprop device that chavismo uses to disqualify all opposition.
In the case of Podemos, Spains would-be Syriza, the links with chavismo were much closer, though recently downplayed by both sides. A
foundation linked to its leaders received 5.2m ($5.7m) over the 12 years to 2014 from the governments of Venezuela and Ecuador,
according to ABC, a Spanish newspaper. Weve seen enormous parallels, Pablo Iglesias, Podemoss leader, told Ecuadors president, Rafael
Correa, last year. We will seek your advice on many things. Mr Iglesias is also a fan of Ernesto Laclau, an Argentine theorist of radical
populism who died last year.
On both sides of the Atlantic, economic and political chaos brought populists to power. In Argentina it was the austerity of internal
devaluation to restore export competitiveness under Mr Cavallo that eventually led to the presidency of Cristina Fernndez. In Venezuela a
stable two-party system was brought down by the collapse of the oil price in the late 1980s, and the corruption this exposed. Mr Correas
rise followed the implosion of Ecuadors political parties and its currency. Likewise, the exhaustion of Greeces two-party system brought
Mr Tsipras to power. Mr Iglesias, with his denunciation of la casta (the political caste of the two main parties) is counting on something
similar in Spain.
Time was when the southern European left gave Latin America advice on democracy. The demise of the Franco dictatorship in Spain
helped to inspire a wave of democratisation in Latin America. In Mexico in 1991, Bello recalls listening to an eloquent plea from Felipe
Gonzlez, then Spains socialist prime minister, for the Latin American left to abandon revolution and embrace democracy.

In June Mr Gonzlez was back in the region to support two opposition politicians jailed in Venezuela. At a press conference on his return,
he was questioned about the implications of Podemos. In Spain the regime will not be liquidated by some kind of alternative adventure,
he declared.
That is a reasonable bet. For all their problems Europes political systems are still more robust than many of those in Latin America. Thanks
to Spains economic recovery and a new centrist rival, Podemoss appeal has probably peaked. Unlike Chvez, Mr Tsipras shows no sign of
using a Rousseauesque appeal to the popular will in referendums as a justification for gutting democratic institutions.
Latin America shows that Europes leaders cannot afford to be complacent, especially with regard to political corruption. But for all its
failures the European Union provides an exoskeleton of institutions, and shows a commitment to democratic norms, that Latin America
lacks. Time and fiscal irresponsibility are taking their toll on Latin Americas far-left regimes. If anyone in Europe needs reminding, the
likes of Venezuelawith its slump, hyperinflation and repressionprove that populism is a poor remedy for the diseases of austerity and
corruption.

From the print edition: The Americas